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Word Smart I > Day 9 > Flashcards

Day 9 Flashcards

1
Q

Define:

proficient

(pruh FISH unt)

A

adj. thoroughly competent; skillful; good (at something)

Lillian was a proficient cabinetmaker. She could make a cabinet that would make you sit back and say, “Now, there’s a cabinet.”

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2
Q

Define:

profligate

(PRAHF luh git)

A

adj. extravagantly wasteful and, usually, wildly immoral

The fraternity members were a profligate bunch; they held all- night orgies on weeknights and nearly burned down their fraternity house with their parties every weekend.

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3
Q

Define:

profound

(pruh FOUND)

A

adj. deep (in several senses)

Profound understanding is deep understanding. To say something profound is to say something deeply intelligent or discerning.

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4
Q

Define:

profuse

(pruh FYOOS)

A

adj. flowing; extravagant

When we gave Marian our house, our car, and all our clothes, her gratitude was profuse.

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5
Q

Define:

proletariat

(proh luh TER ee ut)

A

n. the industrial working class

The proletariat is the laboring class—blue-collar workers or people who roll up their shirtsleeves to do an honest day’s work.

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6
Q

Define:

proliferate

(proh LIF uh rayt)

A

v. to spread or grow rapidly

Honey bees proliferated when we filled our yard with flowering plants.

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7
Q

Define:

prolific

(proh LIF ik)

A

adj. abundantly productive; fruitful or fertile

A prolific writer is a writer who writes a lot of books. A prolific artist is an artist who paints a lot of pictures.

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8
Q

Define:

promulgate

(PRAHM ul gayt)

A

v. to proclaim; to publicly or formally declare something

The principal promulgated a new dress code over the loudspeaker system: Red, green, yellow, and blue were the only permissible artificial hair colors.

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9
Q

Define:

propensity

(pruh PEN suh tee)

A

n. a natural inclination or tendency; a predilection

Jessie has a propensity for saying stupid things: Every time she opens her mouth, something stupid comes out.

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10
Q

Define:

propitious

(pruh PISH us)

A

adj. marked by favorable signs or conditions

Rush hour is not a propitious time to drive into the city.

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11
Q

Define:

proponent

(pruh POH nunt)

A

n. an advocate; a supporter of a position

The proponents of a tax increase will probably not be re-elected next fall. Proponent and opponent are antonyms.

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12
Q

Define:

proprietary

(pruh PRYE uh ter ee)

A

adj. characteristic of an owner of property; constituting property

George felt proprietary about the chocolate-cookie recipe; he had invented it himself.

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13
Q

Define:

propriety

(pruh PRYE uh tee)

A

n. properness; good manners

The old lady viewed the little girl’s failure to curtsy as a flagrant breach of propriety. She did not approve of or countenance such improprieties.

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14
Q

Define:

prosaic

(proh ZAY ik)

A

adj. dull; unimaginative; like prose (as opposed to poetry)

His description of the battle was so prosaic that it was hard for his listeners to believe that any of the soldiers had even been wounded, much less blown to smithereens.

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15
Q

Define:

proscribe

(proh SKRYBE)

A

v. to outlaw; to prohibit

Spitting on the sidewalk and shooting at road signs were both proscribed activities under the new administration.

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16
Q

Define:

proselytize

(PRAHS uh luh tyze)

A

v. to convert (someone) from one religion or doctrine to another; to recruit converts to a religion or doctrine

The former Methodist had been proselytized by a Lutheran deacon.

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17
Q

Define:

protagonist

(proh TAG uh nist)

A

n. the leading character in a novel, play, or other work; a leader or champion

Martin Luther King, Jr., was a protagonist in the long and continuing struggle for racial equality.

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18
Q

Define:

protract

(proh TRAKT)

A

v. to prolong

The trial was so protracted that one of the jurors died of old age and another gave birth.

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19
Q

Define:

provident

(PRAHV uh dunt)

A

adj. preparing for the future; providing for the future; frugal

We were provident with our limited food supplies, knowing that the winter ahead would be long and cold.

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20
Q

Define:

provincial

(pruh VIN shul)

A

adj. limited in outlook to one’s own small corner of the world; narrow

The farmers were provincial; they had no opinions about any­ thing but the price of corn and no interest in anything except growing more of it.

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21
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. thoroughly competent; skillful; good (at something)

A

proficient

(pruh FISH unt)

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22
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. extravagantly wasteful and, usually, wildly immoral

A

profligate

(PRAHF luh git)

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23
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. deep (in several senses)

A

profound

(pruh FOUND)

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24
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. flowing; extravagant

A

profuse

(pruh FYOOS)

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25
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

n. the industrial working class

A

proletariat

(proh luh TER ee ut)

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26
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

v. to spread or grow rapidly

A

proliferate

(proh LIF uh rayt)

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27
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. abundantly productive; fruitful or fertile

A

prolific

(proh LIF ik)

28
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

v. to proclaim; to publicly or formally declare something

A

promulgate

(PRAHM ul gayt)

29
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

n. a natural inclination or tendency; a predilection

A

propensity

(pruh PEN suh tee)

30
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. marked by favorable signs or conditions

A

propitious

(pruh PISH us)

31
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

n. an advocate; a supporter of a position

A

proponent

(pruh POH nunt)

32
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. characteristic of an owner of property; constituting property

A

proprietary

(pruh PRYE uh ter ee)

33
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

n. properness; good manners

A

propriety

(pruh PRYE uh tee)

34
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. dull; unimaginative; like prose (as opposed to poetry)

A

prosaic

(proh ZAY ik)

35
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

v. to outlaw; to prohibit

A

proscribe

(proh SKRYBE)

36
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

v. to convert (someone) from one religion or doctrine to another; to recruit converts to a religion or doctrine

A

proselytize

(PRAHS uh luh tyze)

37
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

n. the leading character in a novel, play, or other work; a leader or champion

A

protagonist

(proh TAG uh nist)

38
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

v. to prolong

A

protract

(proh TRAKT)

39
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. preparing for the future; providing for the future; frugal

A

provident

(PRAHV uh dunt)

40
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. limited in outlook to one’s own small corner of the world; narrow

A

provincial

(pruh VIN shul)

41
Q

Define:

avuncular

(uh VUNG kyuh lur)

A

adj. like an uncle, especially a nice uncle

Professor Zia often gave us avuncular advice; he took a real interest in our education and helped us with other problems that weren’t related to multi-dimensional calculus.

42
Q

Define:

awry

(uh RYE)

A

adj. off course; twisted to one side

The hunter’s bullet went awry. Instead of hitting the bear, it hit his truck.

43
Q

Define:

axiom

(AK see um)

A

n. a self-evident rule or truth; a widely accepted saying

“Everything that is living dies” is an axiom. An axiom in geometry is a rule that doesn’t have to be proved because its truth is accepted as obvious, self-evident, or unprovable.

44
Q

Define:

culminate

(KUL muh nayt)

A

v. to climax; to reach full effect

Connie’s years of practice culminated in a great victory at the international juggling championship.

45
Q

Define:

culpable

(KUL puh bul)

A

adj. deserving blame; guilty

The accountant’s failure to spot the errors made him culpable in the tax-fraud case.

46
Q

Define:

cursory

(KUR suh ree)

A

adj. hasty; superficial

To give a book a cursory reading is to skim it quickly without comprehending much.

47
Q

Define:

curtail

(kur TAYL)

A

v. to shorten; to cut short

The vet curtailed his effort to cut the cat’s tail with the lawn mower. That is, he stopped trying.

48
Q

Define:

cynic

(SIN ik)

A

n. one who deeply distrusts human nature; one who believes humans are motivated only by selfishness

When the pop star gave a million dollars to the museum, cynics said he was merely trying to buy himself a reputation as a cultured person.

49
Q

Define:

provisional

(pruh VIZH uh nul)

A

adj. conditional; temporary; tentative

Louis had been accepted as a provisional member of the club. He wouldn’t become a permanent member until the other members had had a chance to see what he was really like.

50
Q

Define:

proximity

(prok SIM uh tee)

A

n. nearness

I can’t stand being in the proximity of a nuclear explosion. The radiation leaves my hair a mess.

51
Q

Define:

prudent

(PROOD unt)

A

adj. careful; having foresight

Joe is a prudent money manager. He doesn’t invest heavily in racehorses, and he puts only a small part of his savings in the office football pool. Joe is the epitome of prudence.

52
Q

Define:

purported

(pur PORT id)

A

adj. rumored; claimed

The heiress is purported to have been kidnapped by adventurers and buried in a concrete vault beneath the busiest intersection in Times Square. No one believes this story except the psychic who was consulted by the police.

53
Q

Define:

putative

(PYOO tuh tiv)

A

adj. commonly accepted; supposed; reputed

The putative reason for placing the monument downtown is that nobody had wanted it uptown. When you use the word putative, you emphasize that the reason is only supposed, not proven.

54
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. like an uncle, especially a nice uncle

A

avuncular

(uh VUNG kyuh lur)

55
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. off course; twisted to one side

A

awry

(uh RYE)

56
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

n. a self-evident rule or truth; a widely accepted saying

A

axiom

(AK see um)

57
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

v. to climax; to reach full effect

A

culminate

(KUL muh nayt)

58
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. deserving blame; guilty

A

culpable

(KUL puh bul)

59
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. hasty; superficial

A

cursory

(KUR suh ree)

60
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

v. to shorten; to cut short

A

curtail

(kur TAYL)

61
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

n. one who deeply distrusts human nature; one who believes humans are motivated only by selfishness

A

cynic

(SIN ik)

62
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. conditional; temporary; tentative

A

provisional

(pruh VIZH uh nul)

63
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

n. nearness

A

proximity

(prok SIM uh tee)

64
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. careful; having foresight

A

prudent

(PROOD unt)

65
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. rumored; claimed

A

purported

(pur PORT id)

66
Q

Which of your vocabulary words means the following?

adj. commonly accepted; supposed; reputed

A

putative

(PYOO tuh tiv)

Word Smart I (9 decks)

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